In May of this year (2025), I was privileged to speak at the UW Christian Business Student fellowship, where I was asked to share my experience on the interaction between faith and secular work. As I prepared for that talk and thought through my work experience to-date, I realized that my faith and walk with God didn’t have me transform a semiconductor company into a Bible factory or a telecommunications company into a Christian radio station or a software company into an orphanage. Instead, God blessed me by introducing me to people at specific points in their lives, allowing me to slowly build relationships with them. Sometimes this would entail fulfilling a basic need or answering a faith question, but mostly, it would simply mean walking alongside them for a season.
This past weekend, as part of our Kindred series, Pastor Chipo Johnson, from Damascus International Fellowship, spoke on Hebrews 10:24-25 (NLT): “24 Let us think of ways to motivate one another to acts of love and good works. 25 And let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do, but encourage one another, especially now that the day of his return is drawing near.” She focused on “let us” and spoke on how we are to be there for each other to support one another.

Later that same day, I attended a wedding that reunited a number of friends who now attend different churches and/or live in different cities and several adults I had initially met when they were college students. It was great to catch up and serve the new couple alongside each other.

All of these recent experiences served to remind me of how important and precious relationships are. They are forged one interaction at a time, one conversation at a time, one meal at a time. While you might experience some earth-shattering moments together, more often than not, it’s living through the daily grind that builds relationships. My experience has been that consistency and a willingness to be genuinely interested in (and open with) others have been the key to valuable relationships. And those relationships can last a lifetime.

I hear colleagues at my workplace mention how my team seems to be such a tightknit group. Our secret has been simple – eat lunch together. Things don’t change that much from one day to the next. But one conversation at a time, one meal at a time, we're building relationships with each other, without even realizing it. And once you’ve built those relationships, God can use you in your friends’/colleagues’/acquaintances’ lives in ways that outsiders can’t.

Have you thought about the people in your circles of contact, both believers and non-believers? Who can you be forging relationships with? Who can we “motivate to acts of love and good works”?